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Skirmish at Carkoon
Category:ArticlesCategory:Events | category = | continuity = Star Wars | dates = 4 ABY | locations = Dune Sea, Tatooine | participants = Luke Skywalker; Han Solo; Chewbacca; Leia Organa; Lando Calrissian; R2-D2; C-3PO; Jabba the Hutt; Boba Fett | appearances = Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) }} The Skirmish at Carkoon is an unofficial name referring to a fictional event that takes place within the internal continuity of the Star Wars multimedia franchise. For purposes of this database, it may also be referred to as the Skirmish at the Great Pit of Carkoon, the Battle of Carkoon or the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon. The event took place in the 1983 feature film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The events leading up to the skirmish, as well as the skirmish itself, comprise the first third of the film. The Skirmish at Carkoon is a minor land battle fought between members of the Hutt crime cartel led by Jabba the Hutt and a band of escaped prisoners, who also happened to be high-ranking members in the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The skirmish is the culmination of a series of events effected by the prisoners in an effort to rescue their captured ally, Han Solo. The event took place on the planet Tatooine in the Western Dune Sea at the Great Pit of Carkoon. It took place four years after the Battle of Yavin and very shortly before the Battle of Endor. History The Rescue of Han Solo The events leading up to the skirmish began as a comprehensive strategic attempt to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt who had been frozen inside of a block of carbonite and delivered to him by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. The architects behind his rescue consisted of his close friends, Princess Leia Organa, his co-pilot Chewbacca the Wookiee and his friend Luke Skywalker. Additionally, Lando Calrissian played a major role in the rescue due in no small measure for the part he played in Solo's original capture in the first place. Skywalker also employed his droids C-3PO and R2-D2 as key tools in the rescue, though Threepio was largely unaware of the greater plan of action. Lando Calrissian infiltrated Jabba's cartel as a guardsman under the alias Tamtel Skreej and worked at Jabba's palace in the weeks leading up to the rescue. Calrissian maintained a steady presence in Jabba's throne room and was able to keep a close eye on Solo's frozen body, which had been hung on a wall as a personal decoration. The first phase of the rescue plan involved Luke sending C-3PO and R2-D2 to Jabba's palace under the guise of delivering a message. Artoo played a holographic message of Luke Skywalker to Jabba who entreated the Hutt to negotiate a deal for Solo's life. As a token of good will, he offered him the two droids as a gift. Jabba had no intention of letting Solo go, but he accepted Skywalker's gift. He kept Threepio in his throne room to serve as a translator, while Artoo was assigned as a service droid aboard his sail barge, the Khetanna. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi The second phase of the rescue operation involved Princess Leia and Chewbacca. Princess Leia assumed the alias of an actual bounty hunter named Boushh, which proved to be an effective disguise since Boushh's outfit completely covered his head and body and he used a vocal synthesizer to disguise his voice. As Boussh, Leia entered Jabba's throne room with Chewbacca chained to her. She negotiated with Jabba over the price of the bounty on Chewbacca's head. Negotiations turned tense when Boushh presented a thermal detonator and threatened to set it off unless Jabba agreed to an exorbitant sum. Impressed by the bounty hunter's inventiveness, he agreed to the terms, and Chewbacca was taken away. Later that evening, Leia crept into the audience chamber after everyone had fallen asleep. She found the alcove holding Solo's frozen form and thawed him from the carbonite. As they tried to leave however, Jabba and his underlings suddenly appeared before them. He took Leia as a slave and outfitted her with a skimpy costume and collar. He kept her chained closed to him upon his dais. Solo was throne into a dungeon where he was reunited with Chewbacca. At this time, Han was temporarily suffering from blindness due to hibernation sickness as a result of carbonite exposure. The third phase of the rescue operation involved Luke Skywalker himself. Now a Jedi, Luke used his mental powers to trick Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, into bringing him to the throne room. Luke's powers were ineffective against Jabba, but he stood firm and demanded that Solo, Organa and Chewbacca were to be released to him. Jabba activated a trap door beneath Luke's feet and he fell into a cavern pit, which was home to one of Jabba's favorite pets - a giant, monstrous creature known as a Rancor. Luke managed to evade being eaten by the thing, and ran past him through a large iron gate. When the Rancor attempted to follow him, Luke activated the controls on the door, bringing the heavy gate down, crushing the top of the Rancor's head. Jabba was furious at this and Luke was taken prisoner. As punishment, Skywalker, Solo and Chewbacca were sentenced to be executed. Jabba decreed that they would be cast into the Great Pit of Carkoon in the Western Dune Sea, which was the nesting place of a tentacled creature called a Sarlacc. As translated by Threepio, "In its belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years". The skirmish Luke, Han and Chewbacca were taken aboard a Bantha-II cargo skiff and taken out to the Pit of Carkoon. A second skiff, filled with more of Jabba's henchmen, escorted them as did Jabba and his entourage aboard his sail barge, the Khetanna. In attendance on the barge were C-3PO, R2-D2, Leia Organa, bounty hunter Boba Fett, Jabba himself, and several of Jabba's guests and underlings. Before the execution was to commence, Jabba had Threepio issue a proclamation, entreating the prisoners for a final option to beg for mercy - mercy, which of course would never be given. Han retorted that he would get "no such pleasure" from them. Luke Skywalker turned towards the sail barge and issue a final warning to Jabba: "Free us, or die". Jabba laughed and ordered his guards to push Luke into the pit. Before walking the plank, Luke gave a signal to Lando Calrissian, who was still in disguise as a skiff guard and also gestured to R2-D2, who was viewing the event from a window on the barge. Artoo fired a projectile from a housing in his body towards the skiff. The projectile turned out to be Luke's lightsaber. After doing a flip off the plank, Luke landed back on the open deck of the skiff and caught his saber. Igniting it, he swung wildly at three guards, while Lando began grappling with a fourth. He then used his saber to free Han and Chewbacca from their manacles. On the sail barge, a Nikto guard mounted a blaster cannon onto the side of the ship and fired a shot into the skiff. The impact threw Lando over the side, but he managed to snag onto a length of cable, which only barely kept him out of reach of the Sarlacc's hungry tentacles. cuts Fett's blaster.]] Boba Fett then used his rocket pack to fly from the barge to the skiff where he drew his blaster upon Skywalker. Luke cut through the blaster, so Fett ensnared him with a grappling line from his gauntlet. Luke cut himself free, but a second shot from the mounted cannon caused Boba Fett to fall over. The second desert skiff turned about to face them and the guard opened fire on Luke. He leaped from one skiff to the other and began fighting off the armed henchmen. Boba Fett got up and drew a bead on Luke Skywalker. Han Solo, still partially blind heard Chewbacca bark a warning about Boba Fett. As he turned about, he knocked into the bounty hunter, accidentally activating his rocket pack. Boba blasted off the skiff and slammed into the side of the sail barge. He then rolled down the dune and fell into the gaping maw of the Sarlacc. revenge.]] On the sail barge, Princess Leia decided that it was time to make her move. Using a length of her slave chain as a hammer, she cut the power to the inner chamber, causing everyone to scramble about in a panic in the darkness. Before Jabba could even figure out what was going on, Leia circled behind him with her chain, wrapping it around his neck. She pulled on it with all of her strength, eventually strangling Jabba to death. Afterward, R2-D2 used a mini-torch to cut Leia's chains, setting her free. Topside, the Nikto guard continued firing blasts at the first skiff. The vessel lurched forward from the impact, causing the still-dangling Lando Calrissian to drop ever-closer to he Sarlacc. A tentacle reached out and ensnared his leg. Han Solo leaned over the edge of the skiff while Chewbacca was holding his legs and used a discarded rifle to blast the Sarlacc tentacle until it let Lando go. After Luke finished dispatching all of the guards on the second skiff, he leaped over to the sail barge and took care of the gunner, as well as a Gamorrean guard. While defending himself against three more foes, he saw Princess Leia emerging topside. He provided cover and told Leia to get to the blaster cannon and point it at the main deck of the sail barge itself. Luke finished off his foes, grabbed a hanging rope and fired the cannon, before swinging off to the first skiff with Leia in his arms. R2-D2 and C-3PO managed to get topside and Artoo pushed Threepio off the edge of barge into the sand just as the sail barge exploded. By most accounts, everyone else present aboard the barge was killed in the explosion. After collecting the droids, the group arranged to leave Tatooine and return to the Alliance fleet. Adaptations The Skirmish at Carkoon was presented in issue #2 of the four-issue Star Wars: Return of the Jedi comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics. The entire series was simultaneously published in ''Marvel Super Special'' #27, released in the Spring of 1983. By and large, the events from the comic are similar to that of the movie, but there are a few notable differences: Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have extended dialogue that was not in the film. The two quip back and forth to one another while Han is trying to keep Lando from slipping into the Sarlaccs' maw. Of the aliens presented on the desert skiffs and on the upper deck of the sail barge, only Vedain and Queequeg actually resemble their movie counterparts. The human Taym Dren-garen is represented as a brown-skinned reptilian alien. An alien standing next to Taym, possibly a counterpart to Klaatu, is seen wearing tattered rags and looks nothing like any alien species from the mythos. On the sail barge, one of the spectators is an IG-series assassin droid, possibly even IG-88. Although the expanded universe has well established that IG-88 had associations with other bounty hunters hired by Jabba the Hutt, including Boba Fett and Bossk, there is nothing in the film to indicate that he was part of Jabba's entourage. Survivors * In the context of the movie, this incident was intended to showcase the death of Boba Fett. However, due to the growing popularity of the character, he was quickly resurrected in the Expanded Universe, beginning with a story in the Marvel Comics Star Wars comic book series and again in a short story from Star Wars: Tales of Jabba's Palace entitled "A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett". In the story, a slowly digesting Boba Fett uses his jetpack as an explosive device (as well as some concussion grenades) to jettison out of the Sarlacc's maw. * Another survivor of the skirmish is Bib Fortuna, who appears to have died inside the exploding Khetanna. In the Star Wars: Tales of Jabba's Palace short story "Of the Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale", it is revealed that Fortuna managed to escape the explosion aboard a private desert skiff. * Another sail barge survivor is the bounty hunter Bossk. It is unclear exactly how he escaped, but it is known that he was in fact on the barge and that he is later revealed to be alive and well. * Everyone's favorite dopey blue-skinned Ortolan Max Rebo is yet another of the fortunate few who was able to get his lumpy butt off the Khetanna just in time. Participants Combatants Skiff #1 * Luke Skywalker * Han Solo * Chewbacca * Lando Calrissian * Boba Fett * Kithaba * Vedain * Velken Tezeri * Queequeg * One unidentified combatant Skiff #2 * Barada * Brock Starsher * Gailid * Lathe * Pote Snitkin * Yotts Orren * Two unidentified combatants Sail barge * Jabba the Hutt * Leia Organa * Klaatu * Rogua * Nysad * Taym Dren-garen * Thok * Vizam * Wooof Non-combatants * Aved Luun * Bib Fortuna * C-3PO * Fozec * Geezum * Hermi Odle * Kalit * Max Rebo * Ortugg * R2-D2 * Ree-Yees * Saelt-Marae * Salacious B. Crumb * Tessek * Yoxgit * Wittin Locations * Tatooine * Dune Sea * Great Pit of Carkoon Vehicles * Khetanna * Desert skiff :* Bantha-II cargo skiff (2) Who's Who Related categories * Skirmish at Carkoon images * Skirmish at Carkoon participants See also References Navigation Category:4 ABY/Events